Cute (formerly) little Knut, the Berlin Zoo's famous polar bear cub, about to be evicted?

[marmar]

from the Guardian UK:



Knut is the zoo industry's latest victim
As a cub, the polar bear brought worldwide attention to Berlin zoo, but he no longer draws in the crowds

Craig Redmond
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday December 3 2008 17.06 GMT


Newspapers are blaming it on the credit crunch, but the latest plight facing polar bear Knut is yet another symptom of the zoo industry which keeps animals captive for entertainment.

Knut, the famous polar bear at Berlin Zoo who became the centre of worldwide attention last year when it was suggested it may be better for him to killed rather than face a lifetime in captivity, is now facing being kicked out of Berlin Zoo because they can't afford to keep him. The cuddly ball of white fur who used to play with his keeper has grown up. He's big, his bright white fur is now a dull colour and, it is claimed, he has developed behavioural problems because he has only had contact with humans. Importantly in these current financial times, he no longer manages to draw in the crowds of tourists.

Berlin Zoo – which was quick to milk the publicity for all it was worth when Knut was a baby, earning somewhere between €5m and €10m from selling cuddly Knut toys and T-shirts, seeing him made the feature of a Hollywood film and on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine – now claims it can't raise €9m to pay for a larger enclosure for him and a future mate.

More than 21,000 Berliners have signed a petition demanding that Knut be allowed to remain and the city's tourist board bemoaned the loss of "one of its best ambassadors", "one of the city's true mascots". ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/03/knut-polar-bear-berlin-zoo

[robinlynne]

1. Knut is as beautiful as ever, and I'm glad the public is outraged.

I am outraged. How can anyone who thinks of animals as "erxtra stuff" be involved in any way in their care. they should be forced to sell the zoo to an animal lover.
WE are really going to have to end zoos, in favor of animal sanctuaries, which means we may never see these beautiful creatures live.

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

2. The caging of animals is barbaric. I hate stories like this.

[hendo]

3. an animal raised in captivity

would never survive in the wild.

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. Even the polar bears born in the wild cannot survive in the wild.

:(

[hendo]

7. So maybe

some of them should be in zoos :)

[superduperfarleft]

9. Or maybe we should just quit trying to breed them for zoos.

The fact that an animal bred for life in captivity is unable to survive in the wild doesn't change the fact that a life in captivity is unfair to the animal (and the realities of the captivity tend to go way beyond just being "unfair"). If you just want a pretty object to be contained so you can look at it, try an art museum.

edit: from the article:

While some "surplus" animals may be moved to other zoos, others are sold to animal dealers, circuses or laboratories and many are killed. In 2007, a Sunday Times investigation found tigers and other endangered species were being killed at European zoos and their skins sold to taxidermists. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria told the newspaper that EAZA-member zoos were actively encouraged to kill unwanted animals, including tigers, if other zoos did not want them as they use up space, food and keeper time.

[xchrom]

4. knut can raise you millions of euros and you can't take care of him?

hmmmm.

[1]

6. no shit. knut is cute as long as he can make money. now knut is going to be a rug on a floor...

yay! zoos!

yay!

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Thank you.

I have updated the Truthiness Encyclopedia's page on Knut (http://www.wikiality.com/Knut)

Stephen Colbert will be pleased to hear his nemesis is a victim of the unregulated free market.

One Godless Killing Machine down, thousands more to go ...